QUALITY DECLARATION — SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia (cat. no. 7503.0) contains final estimates from the 2014–15 Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP) collection. The value estimates in this publication were derived by the multiplication of price and quantity of agricultural commodities. Price data refer to the average unit value of a given commodity realised in the marketplace. Price information was obtained from ABS collections, as well as from non-ABS sources, including marketing authorities and industry sources.
Quantity data for crops and egg production have been collected via the 2014–15 Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS). Remaining commodity data were obtained from other ABS collections, with some information gathered from external sources. The data was collected on a state and territory basis and then aggregated to derive Australian totals.
Final estimates from the 2014–15 REACS will be presented in the following publications:
Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0) contains detailed statistics on land use, crop and horticultural area and production, livestock numbers and farm management and demographic information. The publication presents data on a national, state and territory basis. Sub-state level data, including Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Statistical Area 4 (SA4) levels and Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions, will be released in data cubes attached to the publication.
Water Use on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4618.0) contains detailed statistics on agricultural water use and sources of water, including details of pastures and crops irrigated, irrigation expenses and volume of water applied. The publication presents data on a national, state and territory basis, and for the Murray-Darling Basin region. Sub-state level data, including ASGS SA4 and NRM regions, will be released in data cubes attached to the publication.
Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (cat. no. 4610.0.55.008) presents the gross value of agricultural commodities that are produced with the assistance of irrigation. The publication presents data on a national, state and territory basis, and NRM regions, and will also provide selected data on the Murray-Darling Basin region.
TIMELINESS
Final estimates from the VACP collection were published in March 2016, at the same time as the final agricultural production estimates from the REACS which can be found in Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0). Data at sub-state levels have been released in Excel (xls), zipped Excel and comma separated values (csv) data cubes. Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (cat. no. 4610.0.55.008) will be published in late 2016.
Preliminary data presenting principal crops and livestock numbers and gross values of production for principal agricultural commodities for the 2014–15 reference period were released in the publications Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary (cat. no. 7111.0) and Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, Preliminary (cat. no. 7501.0), respectively in December 2015.
ACCURACY
The accuracy of price data is ensured by the collection of price data from the best known sources. Where a statutory authority handles marketing of the whole or a portion of a product, data are usually obtained from this source. Information is also obtained from marketing reports, wholesalers, brokers, dealers and auctioneers. Production data are obtained from a range of high-quality sources, including ABS agricultural commodity collections and industry bodies. Extensive editing of production and prices data and checking of resultant value estimates against earlier years and other relevant sources are used to ensure the accuracy of the estimates produced.
All estimates in this publication are subject to sampling error. For more information about sampling error refer to the Explanatory Notes within this release.
COHERENCE
Most estimates in this publication are directly comparable to previous reference periods. However, estimates of 'Other' categories including, fruit and vegetables, 'Total crops', and 'Total agriculture' are not directly comparable to previous issues due to changes in the composition of these items.
INTERPRETABILITY
The VACP collection provides a broad range of data about the value of agricultural commodities produced in Australia through a suite of standard products or as data customised for individual requirements. Detailed Explanatory Notes are provided in this release to assist users in determining and specifying their data requirements and to understand the concepts underlying the data.
ACCESSIBILITY
An extensive range of data is available from a variety of agriculture-based collections on the ABS website.
If the information you require is not available as a standard product or service, the ABS Consultancy Services can assist with customised services to suit your requirements. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
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